Delta Airlines’ Casper flight to end in coming months

CASPER, Wyo. — Dec. 3 will mark the last day that SkyWest Airlines will fly Delta’s connecting flight to Salt Lake City from the Casper-Natrona County International Airport, leaving United Airlines as the local airport’s only carrier.

The change comes after the Natrona County Board of County Commissioners voted in June to withdraw from the minimum revenue guarantee that had been in place with SkyWest for the Delta connection for several years. In an MRG, counties or municipalities pay the difference between what a corporation states it needs to make and what it actually makes. In the most recently agreed-upon MRG, the county in May committed to paying up to, but not more than, $595,420. By June, however, the airport’s board recommended the county pull out from the agreement.

Airport CEO Glenn Januska said he isn’t sure how customers who previously bought tickets for Delta flights past Dec. 3 will be compensated, explaining that those decisions are up to the airlines and not the airport.

As for the larger impacts of Delta’s connection leaving the local airport, Januska said that will largely depend on customer reactions.

“If all the people who would’ve flown Delta just book with United and this doesn’t really have an impact on passenger numbers or things like that, then presumably we might be looking at adding additional flights, more capacity and things like that,” Januska said. “At this point, though, it’s hard to say what the long-term effects could be.”

Januska added that he doesn’t expect United to raise prices without competition from Delta.

“While that second airline isn’t here competing with [United Airlines] anymore, their competition is now the people who choose to fly out of other airports,” he said. “If they increase ticket prices, that will likely only increase the number of people who choose to fly out of Denver.”

In a February interview with Oil City News, Fly Casper Alliance board chair Kaycee Witta said the Casper-Natrona County International Airport loses about 50% of potential customers to people who drive to Denver to fly.

Meanwhile, Januska said the airport will continue looking for other airlines that could be brought in to service the Natrona County airport.

“We’re always looking for airlines that would work well with our community,” he said, “and we’re constantly in talks with United about future plans as well, be that more flights, higher capacity or anything else.”

SkyWest also flies United flights, and will continue to do so.

“Basically, United makes the decisions and contracts with their regional partners like SkyWest, to fly on their behalf,” Januska said. “That’s different than the Salt Lake City flight SkyWest had with Delta, where SkyWest flew essentially at-risk.”